Travel - Australia with Children

As a follow up to my Traveling With Children post, I thought I would share with some of our adventures from our trip to Australia. We spent 10 days in Australia in March of last year (2013), we spent 2 days in Brisbane before heading over to the Gold Coast.

Asleep on the Plane

 We flew to Auckland via Air New Zealand than from Auckland to Brisbane with Qantas. We had a great experience with Qantas they had great entertainment (Ella watched Disney Jr before falling asleep), yummy meals and helpful flight attendants.

On the balcony of our hotel room in Brisbane

The first place we visited was Australia Zoo (Australia Zoo Website)

After going through the gates at Australia Zoo the first thing to greet us was a lady offering free face painting.

We got to see a large variety of animals. Ella was very scared of the crocodiles and wouldn't go anyway near them, even though we told her it was safe.

Ella's highlights were getting to ride a pony, pat and feed kangaroo's and getting to cuddle a koala.

We had a great experience at Australia Zoo.

 The only down side to our trip there was that it was so hot (Over 30 degree C) and I didn't take Ella's pram and she ended up getting very hot and bothered by the end of the day. My advice for visiting Australia Zoo is to take a pram for younger children and take plenty of change for ice blocks and water.

In the Gold Coast we stayed at Broad Beach

I enjoyed staying in Broad Beach as it was very family friendly and a lot quieter than sunshine coast.

For parts of our trip we stayed in Broad Beach and during those times we spent time on the beach, took the monorail to Jupiter’s Casino, strolled the Oasis mall and Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, played at the local playgrounds, visited many cafe's/restaurants and rode the vintage carousel.

We Visited Dream World and Whitewater World (Dream World/Whitewater World Website)

We got a two day pass that allowed us to hop between Dream World and Whitewater World.

Ella had a ball at both Dream World and Whitewater World. On both days we spent the mornings at Dream World and Afternoons at Whitewater World (When it was very hot).

 At Dream World we spent most of our time at the Shrek, Wiggles and Madagascar shows, attractions and rides. Ella's highlight at Dreamworld was meeting Dorthy the Dinosaur and Wags the Dog from the Wiggles.

The River Rapids Ride and Hollow Log Ride were great family rides (and very suitable for younger children), the only thing with these rides that we got soaking wet!!!

Whitwater World was equally as fun as Dreamworld.

Ella's highlights were Wiggle Bay and Cave of Waves.

She also enjoyed Pipeline Plunge, she was too small to go on some of the slides at Pipeline plunge but enjoyed going to the smaller slides and having water tipped over her when she stood under the giant bucket. 

We also spent time at Surface Paradise

We visited Surface Paradise twice during our stay on the Gold Coast. Ella's

highlight of surface paradise was going to make-a-bear, of course being a major My Little Pony fan she made a Pinkie Pie.

Also on Surface Paradise we spent a lot of time on the beach, bowling, checking out the shops and eating at The Hard Rock Cafe (I Highly Recommend The Narcho's).

Shopping!

On quieter days I took advantage of some of the local shopping spots, Ella was happy to chill out in her push chair while I took advantage of the bargains! My two favorite spots were the DFO near Brisbane airport and Habour Town in the Gold Coast.